Immersion: haptics will make touch screens easier to use
If you're like us, phones with on-screen keypads seem like a great idea until you actually try to use them, at which point you realize just how important the sense of touch is to your ability to type a phone number accurately. While waiting for Sony to make their next move, Immersion Corporation is using some of its down time to show off haptic touch screens, which pulse in sync with a user's taps to provide some feedback that a virtual button has been pressed. As you might guess, they're looking to market the technology to smartphone manufacturers, but to the best of our knowledge, no partners have been announced. We'd prefer screens that change shape in response to what's being displayed -- maybe Immersion can get going on that if they end up scoring $90 million in the Dual Shock fiasco.
